


Don’t be them

by CustardCreamies



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M, Maxiel features but isn’t the focus, Toxic work environments, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-31 23:16:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20248252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CustardCreamies/pseuds/CustardCreamies
Summary: He could feel it. The place was eating him alive.





	Don’t be them

**Author's Note:**

> Having a bad mental health day. So here’s me coping with imagining Dan leaving a toxic place to be free.

He could feel it. The place was eating him alive. 

At first he believed he could stay. He could keep going. But now he realises he can’t. 

It’s killing him. Slowly. Bit by bit. Robbing him of his smile, his laugh, his sparkle. 

Max had noticed. Of course he had. Daniel used to touch and kiss so freely. Now he keeps Max at arms length, not excepting of any hugs or kisses. Not letting himself feel loved. 

The red bull leaping from the bottle used to mean freedom. Hope. Now Daniel looks at it and he sees anger. Stress. Mechanics taking sides, management running over its drivers. Marko’s cruel gaze as he praised Max up only to tear Daniel down. 

And it wasn’t Max’s fault. They talked about it late at night in their hotel rooms. In the soft darkness. In a place Dan felt safe. Loved. Max understood. Max didn’t need to say sorry. It was how Marko was. Marko had done the same to Sebastian and he would do it to every single driver that came through the door. Marko wouldn’t change. But Max believed Daniel could change his story. 

It took some encouragement. Some faith. Hope. But Daniel did it. He arranged the interview. He talked terms and when he was asked why he would trade Red Bull for Renault, he just smiled. “Because I’m not them.”

* * *

A year later he joins Max on the balcony of a hotel room in a far away country and shows him his helmet. A symbol. A message. 

Red Bull had not broken him. And never will. 


End file.
